Three migrants from Syria were smuggled into Germany in a car boot, police have said, after the driver was arrested over the “catastrophic conditions” in the vehicle.
Four more Syrians were found crammed into the back seat when the car was stopped near the Austrian border. Passengers had been sick inside and border police opened the boot to find three men in the luggage area.
It is believed the passengers were picked up from Slovenia by a driver who did not have a valid licence. A 38-year-old, with papers from Latvia, was arrested on suspicion of smuggling foreigners into Germany under life-threatening conditions.
Police stopped the visibly overcrowded car on a major Munich-to-Berlin motorway and “as soon as the doors and boot were opened, the catastrophic conditions inside became clear”, they said.
Three of the Syrians were taken to refugee accommodation, while another four who did not request asylum were returned to Austria, a distinction being fiercely debated in German politics as voter anger over migration throws the government into crisis.
Germany began entry checks at all nine of its usually open Schengen land borders on Monday, as it responds to a spate of Islamist attacks and a historic victory for the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in a state election in Thuringia.
The nationalists could score a second win on Sunday as voters elect a new parliament in Brandenburg, having named migration as their prime concern in pre-election polls. Like Thuringia, the state is in the AfD's heartland in Germany's former East.
“We cannot accept that the birth rate continues to fall in Germany while we offset it with people who are not compatible with our culture,” said one AfD candidate in Brandenburg, Wilko Moeller. “They can’t live here, most of the people who come here, the Afghans, the Tunisians, the Moroccans.”
Chancellor Olaf Scholz's centre-left government is exploring ways to deport failed asylum seekers to Syria for the first time since 2012. It plans to withhold benefits from refugees if EU law dictates another country should hear their case.
However, Germany has evaded opposition demands to turn away asylum seekers on the spot, citing legal concerns and the fact that neighbouring countries such as Austria and Poland would be reluctant to take them back in.
It is relying instead on the so-called Dublin procedure in which people are returned later to the first EU country they entered. This system failed in the case of an alleged Syrian knifeman who had dodged deportation to Bulgaria before three people were stabbed to death in Solingen in August.
“In Germany there is a right to asylum. People who apply for asylum at the border will have their application considered,” an Interior Ministry spokesman said on Friday.
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Volvo ES90 Specs
Engine: Electric single motor (96kW), twin motor (106kW) and twin motor performance (106kW)
Power: 333hp, 449hp, 680hp
Torque: 480Nm, 670Nm, 870Nm
On sale: Later in 2025 or early 2026, depending on region
Price: Exact regional pricing TBA
